Bylaws

BYLAWS 

OF THE

SLC

(Student Life Committee)

2013-2014

A COMMITTEE

OF THE ASPSU SENATE

Article I Designation

The name of this committee, in full, is The Student Life Committee to the ASPSU Senate. It may also be referred to as the Student Life Student Senate Committee, variants thereof, and simply as the “SLC”.

Article II Object

The object of this committee shall be to assist the Student Life Director of ASPSU to engage Portland State University students with their student government through events, fieldwork, university relations, publications, and leadership; to foster constructive relationships and liaise with student organizations; and to provide assistance representing non-traditional students.

Article III Members

Section 1. If the membership of the committee falls lower than three, the committee is automatically dissolved, to be reinstated when membership is adequate.

Section 2. Members of the committee are to be qualified into four groups: the committee chair, voting members, ex officio members, and consulting members. These categories of membership determine eligibility, speaking rights, and responsibilities.

Section 3. The chair is responsible for maintaining the legitimacy of the committee, storing important documents, calling meetings, and setting the agenda.

Section 4. In the absence of a chair, ­provided that the committee meets the minimum number of members, a temporary chair is to be elected among voting members and business is to proceed in as regular a manner as possible.

Section 5. The voting members of the committee are the sitting student body senators. They are full members in every regard.

Section 6. Any ex officio members that choose to attend meetings will retain speaking privileges. The Student Life Director intern is to be considered an ex officio member. Ex officio members must be members of ASPSU excepting members of ASPSU in the past.

Section 7. Consulting members are members of the community whose voluntary involvement with the committee varies in function and form. Their speaking rights must be agreed upon by the committee before the consulting member’s agendum.

Section 8. Members must notify the committee two weeks in advance of their intent to resign. Failure to do so is an immediate suspension of voting rights and an attention request to the Judicial Review Board.

Section 9. All members may not miss more than two committee meetings per academic quarter, including meetings when classes are not in session. Unexcused absences are to be determined by the chair. Upon the third unexcused absence, it is to the committee’s discretion on which course to take—an attention request or some punishment which satisfies the responsible members of the committee. The fourth unexcused absence is an immediate attention request to be submitted by the chair.

Article IV Officers

            Section 1. These officers shall perform the duties prescribed by these bylaws and by the rules of order of the parliamentary authority outlined in article VII.

Section 2. The ASPSU Student Life Director shall be the chair of the committee.

            Section 3. The committee shall elect from among its ranks a secretary to be charged with taking minutes. The secretary may resign with 2 weeks notice upon which occasion the committee must elect a new secretary. The committee may depose a current secretary by electing a new one.

Article V Meetings

            Section 1. Meetings shall be held once a week at a time designated by the chair.

            Section 2. Special meetings may called by the chair or a majority of committee members at any time provided that the committee is given 48 hours notice.

            Section3. Meetings with members totaling less than 7 shall be held informally. The agenda and voting and any proceedings thereof are to strictly adhere to the rules of order of the parliamentary authority declared in article VII regardless of the number of members in attendance. If the committee exceeds 7 members, then the rules of order are to be adopted in full.

            Section 4. ­Quorum is three voting members.

Article VI Voting

            Section 1. Motions receiving less than a simple majority vote (defined as any number greater than half of the total number of voting members present) shall fail. Those receiving, at minimum, a majority vote shall be adopted by the committee excepting certain circumstances outlined in the parliamentary authority in article VII.

            Section 2. There shall be no abstaining votes unless a committee member can obtain the right to abstain with the approval of a simple majority of the committee.

            Section 3. The chair is a voting member.

            Section 4. Voting members are voting members.

            Section 5. Ex officio and consulting members are not permitted to vote.

Article VII Parliamentary Authority

            The rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the committee in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws or any special rules of order this society may adopt.

Article VIII Amendment of Bylaws

            Section 1. Any voting member struck by the desire to amend these bylaws must give advance notice to the committee during the previous meeting, specifying their amendment(s) in the notice.

            Section 2. Members not present at a meeting when notice with the intent of amending the bylaws is given, are to be informed by the chair and the member proposing the amendment(s) is to supply the alterations to the absent members no less than 3 days in advance of the next committee meeting. Failure to provide the proposed alterations to the absent members 3 days in advance constitutes a failed notice and the bylaws may not be amended at the next committee meeting, however, notice may be given again.

            Section 3. Upon the successful amendment of the bylaws, the revised document, along with tracked changes, is to be brought before the student senate for final approval. The bylaws are not binding until approved.

Article IX Conformity

All meetings and activities of the committee are to adhere to the standards set by the adopted parliamentary authority, any established special rules of order, these bylaws, the senate bylaws, the ASPSU constitution, Portland State University policy, Oregon University System policy, and local, state, and national law.